Tuesday, June 22, 2010

French Theatre Box


This is something new I've recently finished (I think - LOL). I first need to give a big THANK YOU to The Graphics Fairy, where most of the images came from, and to The Vintage Moth as well. Couldn't have done it without you!

I had actually stopped in at a nearby tobacco shop to inquire about cigar boxes because I wanted to store some craft tools, papers and such in them. Sara, the manager, graciously gave me several, at no charge! Sweet! One was this one, which immediately started to give me ideas, leading me to spend hours hovering over the computer, locating images that gave me more ideas, and voila!

I have more photos, but haven't figured out how to use Picasa or ?? to be able to show them elsewhere.

I know this type of thing has a name (exposing my ignorance now). Is it a diorama? Nothing religious about it, so it's not a reliquary, right? Please enlighten me if you can!

I combined three images on this side of the box, the clown figure, the dog and the woman; I used some of the iridescent water color on the clown.

I wanted to give the entire piece a kind of surrealistic feel, but this side sort of goes all the way, don't you think? I just loved the various pieces, and this is how it came together. I think it adds to the humorous aspect.

This is the chorus line, on the back of the box. I added some iridescent paint here too.

This is the inside; you can see the "ceiling" here, where I put black paper and added the posters. If you look at the enlarged version, you can see better the back wall. I first found the graphic of the stage, and I cut out the blank center. I was so excited to find a great graphic the right size and image to represent the movie screen, and put the two together - I thought it turned out pretty neat!

The wall behind Madame.

10 comments:

  1. I just love this piece. It is a diorama and lots of artists especially those in the modern art world have made them. this one contains just enough to make me believe the space could be three dimensional and represents a time period to the tee.

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  2. These is just plain interesting and wonderful! Beautiful work putting it together. It is a diorama but I have also heard them called theater boxes.

    Sharon
    http://mystoryart.com

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  3. Very cool and fun! I've never seen such a large cigar box -- and what a great idea to ask at a local store. I wonder what other great art supplies we could accumulate just by asking for them . . .

    Just wondering, Darrelyn -- on what did you print your upright images that they look so sturdy and stable? And how did you secure them?

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  4. ohhh, so wonderful, creative pieces. I was at another site and you mentioned living near a graveyard, and wondered if others would appreciate the quiet. Just the other day, I drove by an old cemetery and was thinking I would love to live next door. Right now, I am living with some very, very noisy neighbors and their rather wild children.
    So, I came to check you out and now will be back. I am trying to rediscover my creative side.

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  5. Thanks for stopping by, for your kind comments and for becoming a follower, suzieQ! I hope you'll be surprised at how easy it is to find your creative side. Once you "decide" to be more creative, it seems to open the door to all kinds of creative thinking. Just let it out and enjoy it! And share it with the rest of us, of course!!

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  6. Hi Darrelyn,
    Wow, this is amazing!!! You did such a beautiful job on this and I love how you worked with the graphics on the box itself too. Fabulous! I'm so glad you were able to find some images from my site to use for your French Theater Box. If you're interested, I would love it if you would link this up to my Brag Monday post, which is a little linky party that I run every Monday (starting in the morning). I'm sure my readers would love to see this amazing piece!

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  7. HELLO DARRELYN,
    THIS IS AWESOME.WHAT A WONDERFUL IDEA...I HAVE SOMETHING I WANT TO MAKE OUT OF CIGAR BOXES AND YOU HAVE INSPIRED ME.
    HOW LONG DID IT TAKE TO MAKE IT......I WONDER IF IT WAS POSSIBLE TO MAKE DIFFERENT BACK DROPS...ARE THERE BOOKS THAT TALK ABOUT THESE THINGS.
    I JOINED UP TO FOLLOW YOUR BLOG AND WOULD LOVE TO INVITE YOU TO FOLLOW FINE.
    HUGS,
    SIMPLY DEBBIE

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  8. I love your theatre, an awesome idea.

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